Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain Fournieren français the novel of youth by French author Alain Fournier
(1886 - 1914) who died in the Great War. Known as The Wanderer and also as
The Lost Estate. Some chapters will contain a link to the English translation.
When Meaulnes first arrives in Sologne, everyone is captivated by his good
looks, daring, and charisma. But when he attends a strange party at a mysterious
house with a beautiful girl hidden inside, he is changed forever. Published
here in the first new English translation since 1959, this evocative novel
has at its center both a Peter Pan in provincial France-a kid who refuses
to grow up-and a Parsifal, pursuing his love to the ends of the earth. Poised
between youthful admiration and adult resignation, Alain- Fournier's narrator
compellingly carries the reader through this indelible portrait of desperate
friendship and vanished adolescence.
Le Grand Meaulnes, translated as The Lost Domain or The Wanderer, is a magical
fable of adolesence, erotic awakening and idealised desire. Narrated by 15-year-old
François Seurel, it is the myth-like story of how his friend and hero
Augustin Meaulnes, lost in a snowy country lane, stumbles upon a wonderful
chateau and catches a glimpse of a beautiful girl — Yvonne de Galais
— with whom he falls instantly in love. The rest of the novel relates
Meaulnes's attempts to find and claim his girl. But, sadly, this isn't a fairytale
and the characters have to grow up. According to legend, the novel is based
on a fleeting encounter the author had in Paris with a beautiful girl called
Yvonne, who was already engaged. Alain-Fournier died fighting on the frontline;
he was only 27.

Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (1646c - 1665c) is the
Aquinnah Wampanaug from Martha's Vinyard who graduated from Harvard College
in 1665 who is the subject of Geraldine Brooks' very popular historical fiction
novel Caleb's Crossing. View his portrait which is located at Harvard
College and follow links to sites about Caleb This book is available from
all libraries but it is on hold.